ASUS W2v and Z83 Review and Comparison (pics, specs) — Page 3

For the Z83v, there is just a hinge button, and two speakers on the sides at the front of the laptop. But technically, the media keys are also located in the front, but just facing up at a steep angle. They are the familiar Power On/Suspend LED, the Battery Charging/low/full LED, HD Access LED, and Bluetooth LED as well as the new Email LED just like the W2v, as well as the media Play/Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind and Stop buttons.

On the left side of the W2v, it is quite a sight. There is a single USB port first thing, for quick access to a USB flash drive, or for a quick and temporary USB storage HD access. This was placed very strangely, as it could be kinda annoying and out of place, but while I was using it, it did not bother me at all. Next is the slim slot loading 8x DVD-RW drive. Like all slot loads, it is wicked cool! Now comes one of my favourite designs, the ‘hidden’ jacks, hidden behind a very clever door. Inside is the RJ45 and RJ11, the Ethernet and phone jacks, then the S-video output and the RF connector for TV. Then the power jack and the Kensington lock.

The other half of the left side of the W2v, with the LED’s at the top, for the regular Caps lock, HD access, CPU loading blinking LED’s (view larger image)

For the z83v, there is the PCMCIA slot, a 4 in 1 card reader, Firewire, a Microphone In and a S/PDIF and headphones jack. A component TV in/out jack is next in line. There is also a USB and a typical RJ45 and RJ11 jack here.

On the back the W2v has nothing, which is pretty attractive. The z83v has FOUR USB ports, all placed at the same place — so it could get crowded, and then a 25-pin parallel port and a 15-pin VGA port. Lastly there is a S-Video and a Kensington lock, followed by a large fan vent.

The right side of the W2v has a 15-pin VGA port, a large fan vent, a single USB port, a Infra Red sensor, a 4 in 1 card reader, and underneath that, a PCMCIA slot, which has a spring cover instead of a dummy holder inside, which is a first. Then there is a firewire jack and two more USB ports.

For the Z83v, there is just the power plug and the DVD+- Double Layer optical drive. Not slot loading.

On the bottom of the W2v, there is 4 areas which can be easily accessible by the user. They are, from left to right, the CPU, HD, RAM and wireless card. Note on the top, there is the 8 cell battery(Which is located at the back of the laptop), a subwoofer at the middle, and a ‘ledge’ which bends in at the bottom with two large circular legs and a single ‘toe’ at the middle, in between the legs and the speakers. There is also one single fan vent, located over the wireless card.

On the other hand, the z83v has 3 areas, the CPU/RAM, the HD and wireless/TV Tuner. The battery is located at the bottom, which is at the front of the laptop. Then there is a large amount of small vents all over the bottom — Four. OK, not large amount, 3 on the top for the CPU/RAM, one for the HD and one for the wireless card.

If you haven’t noticed it already, there was not a large amount of vents in both models, and that had resulted in a warm body, but the aluminum in the W2v kept the body pretty cool, but it did get quite warm near the top of the laptop. The Z83v did not get as warm, probrably because of the amount of vents — it had quite a cool body.